- Hi, I'm Margaret Martin at MelioGuide,
here, today, to share with you a great exercise
referred to as a heel drop exercise.
And this exercise is very helpful
for stimulating bone
in the lower body.
Now, I demonstrate all my exercises without shoes
so that you could see the position of my feet.
I also have never had issues with my feet.
I've never suffered from plantar fasciitis.
I stretch my calf muscles on a regular basis.
And when I'm demonstrating,
I have two layers of yoga mat underneath me.
Some of you are young that are looking at this
and you'll do fine doing it just the way I'm doing it,
some of you who have tight calf muscles,
who have suffered from plantar fasciitis,
by all means, if you wear orthotics when you walk,
and have been recommended to always have shoes on your feet,
then I'm not in a position to see your feet
or know what your situation is,
so when you're doing this exercise,
do it in a way that is going to keep you safe
and your feet happy, 'cause that's really important.
Now, the only tool you need for this
other than your footwear,
or if you're doing it barefoot,
what you have placed on the ground underneath your feet
is a strong support surface.
Heel drops are often done while you're doing dishes,
for instance, so, just your countertop,
having your hands on the edge of the sink works great.
The exercise is, as it sounds,
it's the dropping of your heels,
so you rise up and then that dropping.
Now, many people have the ability
to hyper extend their knees.
I'm one of them.
So it's so very critical that you do not do this
with hyper extended knees because,
I guess I'll try one 'cause I'm so used
to not hyper extending my knees anymore,
but all that force was just so strong
because there was no shock absorption
from my muscles at all.
I think I protectively softened my knees,
I've never knee pain, but when you hyper extend,
you're just loading and putting too much stress
on the ligaments of the knees.
So always a soft bend,
always engaging the rest of your posture
so that you have a neutral pelvic position
and your head is over your shoulders
or as best as it can be,
because that loading that you're doing is, I'm assuming,
to help you to be the best you can be,
to have stronger bones.
And when we load with our head in front of our shoulders,
well, now we're loading everything in an unsafe position.
So optimizing your posture and alignment
so that as you come down,
everything is loading in a safe way.
So that the weight of my head,
the 11 or 12 pounds of my head,
that weight, as it comes down with the gravitational pull,
is sitting over my spine.
It's not sitting in front of my spine.
So you want to feel that gentle vibration,
go up through your body.
For those of you
who have had vertebral compression fractures,
I don't recommend doing heel drops,
but if you're working with physiotherapists in your area,
or you ask your doctor and they're comfortable with it,
then by all means,
but, not knowing your individual situation,
I don't feel comfortable suggesting it as an exercise
because I can't see what your form is like.
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